Long before joining Park West as executive vice president of sales and marketing, Marty McPhee worked his way up from ground level, mowing lawns as a teenager on Long Island, N.Y., where he built a business. By 18, McPhee made his first maintenance acquisition and later enrolled in the ornamental horticulture program at Farmingdale State College SUNY.

Upon graduating, he partnered with a classmate who wanted to focus on landscape construction. Eventually, he realized Long Island winters were a deterrent to growth and his passion for building landscapes. So, he headed West to California, where he could pursue his passion year-round.

The West Coast presented him with a chance to continue his education and spark new business relationships. While a horticultural major at Cal Poly Pomona, McPhee picked up local landscape jobs on weekends and pumped gas at night to make ends meet while forging new relationships with local suppliers and nurserymen.

It was not long before he met the owner of a large commercial landscape construction company and was asked to assist with estimating and project management. For the next decade, he advanced his career and regularly attended industry events, where he began to cross paths with Park West’s president of construction, Bart Ryder.

He had such a good reputation in the industry,” Ryder says. “He was well known, very professional, smart, and I knew if he was on our team, he could help take us to the next level.”

At Ryder’s suggestion, McPhee joined Park West to help expand its business development in Orange County. During the last 25 years, McPhee continued to foster a strong relationship between Park West and the landscape architecture community by being involved and supporting professional organizations like ASLA and the CLASS Fund.

McPhee says, “I seek the interaction of building relationships and moving the chains, whether with my colleagues at Park West or industry professionals, as we all have the common goal of success—it’s what inspires me.”

He is also behind some of the company’s most notable projects, including Legoland, Disneyland Drive, Anaheim Garden Walk, Crystal Cove Promenade, Spectrum 4 and master-planned communities like La Floresta, The Reserve, New Haven, Heritage Fields and Audie Murphy Ranch.

“He helped us gain momentum and has been extremely instrumental in carrying the torch regarding [business] relationships,” Ryder says.

Note: This article was written by Angelica Loera and shared with us by Park West.